College Street work on schedule

Work continues on College Street in Washington. - Observer-Reporter
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The rain that seems to have fallen non-stop this month has not seriously hampered work being done on College Street as part of the Route 19 project in Washington.

“They have been trying to work between the raindrops,” said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer with the state Department of Transportation. “It is a nuisance. It has been more like April.”

Roxanne Rossi, who is overseeing the project for PennDOT, said work may have been ahead of schedule if not for the rain.

The project is expected to be done in late October.

The work on College between Highland Avenue and East Maiden Street started in March as part of a project to rebuild the Route 19 corridor around Washington & Jefferson College. Work was completed on Lincoln Street last year. College supposed to be finished in 2012, but delays in moving a water line forced PennDOT to postpone the work.

Faieta said this is the first time in his 20 years with PennDOT that any reconstruction work has been done on College.

“We found multiple layers from brick, concrete and asphalt,” said Jaison Cox of Trumbull Corp., the company working with PennDOT on the project.

Earlier this month, work was switched from the left side of the street to the right side. Cox noted that residents in the area have been very cooperative during the project.

Jim Mirage from W&J said the college is working on Strawberry Avenue. The asphalt has been removed and crews are tying in storm drains.

Work on the next phase of the corridor project starts next month with repaving and drainage work on Murtland and Ridge avenues from the Pennsylvania State Police barracks to near Central Avenue.